Hollywood's spiciest writing group? It's at a retirement home for showbiz veterans

Seated astatine a folding array successful a ample sun-filled room, Melody Sherwood adjusted the portable microphone basal and started to read.

“One of Cary Grant’s favourite things to bash was to archer stories,” she began successful a dependable similar an old-fashioned schoolteacher. “He had an abundant supply. One of my favourite things to bash was perceive to him archer them.”

Sherwood, a adjacent person of Grant’s who spent 30 years moving arsenic Lew Wasserman’s enforcement adjunct astatine Universal, went connected to relay an only-in-Hollywood communicative involving Grant’s archetypal clip entertaining troops overseas, a applicable gag by the histrion David Niven and wherefore for the past 50 years she’s had a vanity licence sheet with the letters GAFY printed connected it, an acronym for “Go And F— Yourself.”

Jodie Mann, 76, astatine the gathering of the Grey Quill Society astatine the Motion Picture & Television Fund field successful Woodland Hills.

It was a amazingly spicy communicative for a seemingly buttoned-up 81-year-old woman, but bold-faced names and the occasional curse connection are par for the people astatine the Grey Quill Society, a play memoir penning radical for residents of the Motion Picture and Television Fund’s Woodland Hills assemblage for aging amusement professionals. That morning, the radical had already heard from a retired quality histrion astir the clip Doris Day persuaded her to assistance rescue a starving canine successful Beverly Hills. A erstwhile Flamenco dancer shared a communicative astir her nerve-racking stint moving for Morris “Moishe” Levy, a euphony concern enforcement with reported mob ties.

Bob Beitcher, president and CEO of MPTF, who drops successful connected Grey Quill meetings whenever helium can, looked up the Flamenco dancer’s erstwhile brag connected his telephone aft she finished her story.

“Moishe Levy was a salient taxable of investigations into organized transgression and was convicted for extortion conscionable earlier his death,” helium work disconnected Wikipedia.

“That’s my guy!” she replied, flashing a camera-ready smile.

Run by 40-year-old writer and shaper Victoria Bullock, the Grey Quill Society is portion writers room, portion enactment radical and occasional stand-up show. Its astir 2 twelve members scope successful property from 65 to 95 and galore hold that the two-hour gathering is the item of their week. Few of them knew each different earlier moving to the MPTF campus, but their shared acquisition moving successful Hollywood gives them an casual rapport.

“It’s specified a unsocial radical of radical due to the fact that we person each spent our lives successful the industry,” said Sherwood, who moved into a 1940s-era cottage astatine MPTF 9 months ago. “Here you tin archer your stories and radical recognize due to the fact that they person their ain stories too.”

The amusement indispensable spell on

Conceived by soundless movie prima Mary Pickford, the Motion Picture and Television Fund was founded successful 1921 to attraction for radical successful the amusement manufacture who had fallen connected hard times. In its aboriginal years the enactment was funded successful portion by a payroll pledge programme for workplace workers earning much than $200 a week and by a fashionable vigor program, “The Screen Guild Theater,” successful which stars similar Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart and Joan Crawford donated their salaries to MPTF for appearing connected the show. These gross streams allowed the nonprofit to interruption crushed connected a 48-acre field successful 1941 wherever it would yet unfastened a infirmary and lodging for 250 radical nether the motto “We instrumentality attraction of our own.”

Touring the field successful 1948, famed Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper described the spot arsenic “like a fabulous state nine beautifully situated amidst gardens, oak trees, and each kinds of flowering shrubs.”

“I’ve paid $30 a time astatine a state nine oregon edifice for overmuch less,” she wrote, adding that she wanted to taxable her ain application.

The Motion Picture & Television Fund, a non-profit that provides lodging for retired members of the movie and TV industries.

(MPTF)

Today the grounds diagnostic an extended roseate garden, a canine parkland named Doggywood, a 230-seat theatre with a reddish ceramic “carpet” starring to its entrance, the Jodie Foster Aquatic Pavilion and a stylish potting shed that has go a fashionable spot for residents to bask different benignant of “pot.” You’ll find Mary Pickford’s ornate heirloom gramps timepiece extracurricular the communal room wherever commercialized magazines similar Variety and the Hollywood Reporter are laid retired each day. The opus “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” was composed connected a soft adjacent the entranceway of 1 of the surviving facilities.

MPTF offers a scope of lodging options including autarkic surviving successful classical 1940s cottages and modern condos, assisted surviving apartments, skilled nursing facilities and representation care. To suffice for lodging astir residents request to beryllium astatine slightest 70 years aged and person worked for 20 years successful the industry, oregon beryllium joined to idiosyncratic who did (there is immoderate wiggle country astir the property request for radical successful request of aesculapian care). Those who tin spend to wage for country and committee do. Those who can’t are subsidized by MPTF for arsenic agelong arsenic needed. Currently astir 50% of residents person immoderate benignant of subsidy. The waitlist for autarkic surviving units is mostly a week to six months. For representation attraction and skilled nursing it tin beryllium up to a fewer years.

“Creativity is ageless” is different motto connected campus. Residents tin take from an array of classes including ceramics, piano, workplace creation and improv. There is besides an in-house production workplace that offers assemblage members the accidental to conceive of and big their ain shows and movie produtions.

The Grey Quill Society began successful 2013 arsenic a four-week memoir penning people that has continued indefinitely. The radical has published 5 effort compilations disposable for acquisition astatine Amazon and celebrities similar Jon Hamm, Matthew McConaughey, Billy Porter and Yvette Nicole Brown person work immoderate of the Quills’ stories aloud arsenic portion of a fundraiser. Hawk Koch, a movie shaper and erstwhile president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is simply a regular attendee. He doesn’t unrecorded connected campus, but helium makes the thrust from Ojai each week to be meetings and occasionally work from his publication “Magic Time” astir his Hollywood days.

The group’s founding person was unpaid Peter Dunne, a writer, shaper and penning teacher who worked connected “Dallas,” “Melrose Place” and “Sybil.” Dunne taught the Quills that determination is simply a quality betwixt autobiography and memoir. If autobiography is simply a signaling of facts successful chronological order, past memoir seeks to absorption connected circumstantial moments, episodes oregon radical who changed the writer — for amended oregon worse. He wanted the radical to endeavor for the latter.

Bob Beitcher, CEO of the Motion Picture & Television Fund speaks astatine the gathering of the Grey Quill Society.

“During Peter’s days it was guys talking astir their acquisition successful WWII for the archetypal time, women talking astir experiences successful their vocation that were precise dark, radical saying I ne'er told this communicative to anyone,” Beitcher said. “It was precise therapeutic and astonishing to spot specified a harmless abstraction wherever radical could archer those stories.”

Bullock began attending the play sessions aft gathering Dunne astatine an appreciation lawsuit for MPTF volunteers successful 2014. When Dunne near L.A. successful 2019, Bullock took implicit the group. She sees her relation arsenic making definite participants consciousness seen and heard, mildly directing discussions and encouraging members to excavation deeper successful their writing.

“Some of them truly deliberation it’s astir the writing, and of people it’s large erstwhile it’s bully writing, but that’s not the astir important part,” she said. “There’s precise overmuch a ineffable ellipse of Quills. They get existent vulnerable, and I bash too.”

A originative retreat

Although astir of the Quills did not enactment arsenic nonrecreational writers, galore accidental that having the abstraction to archer their stories has fixed them intent and joyousness successful the aboriginal stages of their lives, arsenic good arsenic an accidental to workout the originative thrust that brought them to the amusement manufacture successful the archetypal place.

“It’s conscionable benignant of keeping your ft successful the door, due to the fact that different you get a small brainsick erstwhile you person that drive,” said Jodie Mann, 76. “This is the lone spot I person to beryllium creative.”

David Quick, a erstwhile prop master, said that the process of composing stories for the Quills and sharing them astatine the play meetings is the astir important happening successful his life.

“I didn’t travel present reasoning I was a writer,” helium said. “I recovered retired I am.”

David Quick, 74, astatine the gathering of the Grey Quill Society astatine the Motion Picture & Television Fund field successful Woodland Hills.

J. Rickley Dumm, 84, is 1 of the fewer members of the Grey Quill Society who wrote for a surviving earlier moving to the MPTF successful 2019. He started his vocation successful the mailroom astatine Universal and became a writer and shaper for tv shows similar “Rockford Files” and “Magnum P.I.” When his Hollywood vocation ended helium began penning novels.

When Dumm archetypal joined the radical helium told Bullock that helium was ne'er going to constitute astir himself. Soon, however, helium wrote a portion astir a stutter that plagued him during his youth. He’s been penning idiosyncratic stories ever since.

Dumm’s speaking dependable isn’t arsenic beardown arsenic it erstwhile was, truthful helium often asks his person Guerin Barry, who sang with the American stone ‘n’ rotation radical Sha Na Na and is simply a skilled dependable actor, to work his stories aloud. On a caller Thursday helium shared a eulogy for his person and fraternity member John Stephen Dahlem, a precocious schoolhouse principal, ordained minister, wrestling manager and marathon runner who summited the tallest mountains connected each 7 continents, including Mt. Everest twice.

After sharing the details of Dahlem’s life, Dumm concluded: “I’d wager that if I had not written this astir my person and fraternity brother, you astir apt would ne'er person heard of him. Now you have!”

After Barry finished reading, Bullock handed Dumm a microphone truthful helium could stock a fewer further thoughts. “We ne'er dreamed helium would bash immoderate of these things astatine the fraternity house,” helium told the group. “He was a cut-up. He was a comedian. But for him, it wasn’t astir the summit. It was astir the climb.”

After helium finished talking, Bullock shared her feedback. “That’s specified a beauteous metaphor for idiosyncratic who truly understands life,” she said. “You’re enjoying the climb. Because erstwhile you get there, it’s over.”

Victoria Bullock, right, a unpaid who wields a gavel and words of encouragement listens with J. Rickley Dumm, 84, left.

Writing ‘the past chapter’

The taxable of decease doesn’t travel up successful each gathering of the Grey Quill Society, but it’s often determination beneath the surface. Many Quills are successful their 80s and 90s, and the radical occasionally loses a member. Only 1 of the archetypal Quills is inactive alive.

Bullock said grappling with the cognition that galore successful the radical are nearing the extremity of their lives is 1 of the hardest parts of the unpaid gig.

“You conscionable them, and you autumn successful emotion with them, and you are making a woody to interruption your ain heart,” she said.

The MPTF ever holds a representation work for residents aft a death, but the Grey Quill Society has its ain rituals erstwhile 1 of their ain dies. Bullock picks a portion written by the subordinate who passed to work aloud and past talks astir that person’s travel astatine the Quills. Other members stock their ain memories.

Over the years Bullock has recovered that portion the radical doesn’t needfully privation to code decease directly, they admit that for astir of them, MPTF is the past spot they’ll live.

“We’re each precise alert that this is the past chapter,” a person from the Quills erstwhile told her. “But sometimes, the astir absorbing things hap successful the past chapter.”

Stories unrecorded forever

On my 2nd sojourn to the Grey Quill Society, a retired quality histrion shared a communicative astir playing a bull connected a tv bid and receiving a panicked telephone telephone from her grandma who was disquieted she had taken a unsafe occupation successful the constabulary force. A signifier histrion recalled the clip she was successful a accumulation of “Arsenic and Old Lace” with Bela Lugosi, who she disquieted wanted to suck her blood. A erstwhile Shakespearean histrion work a portion astir the pleasance of indulging successful a beauteous brace of Gucci loafers, which helium wore astir New York City. Sherwood had different communicative to stock astir Cary Grant, this time, astir however they met erstwhile helium offered her a thrust location from the studio.

He told her helium wasn’t bully astatine marriage. She quipped that the adjacent clip helium use for a learner’s licence alternatively of a license.

Beitcher was determination too, leaning against the wall, enjoying each of it.

“They accidental you ne'er dice until the past idiosyncratic who knew you dies,” helium said. “I deliberation they are extending their lives successful immoderate meaningful ways.”